A History of an Antipathy
by Ran-dezvous
Summary: The Bourbon-Rye rivalry began long before a certain character's death. Contains major, major spoilers for the end of the Bourbon arc. Not safe for anime-only fans.


A History of an Antipathy

Their first meeting had been one of animosity. Furuya Rei never liked Akai Shuuichi the moment he first set his eyes on him. At the time, Rei knew him as Moroboshi Dai, the hotshot new recruit who also happened to be Miyano Akemi's lover. As a big brother of sorts to Akemi, Rei's first instinct was that of protectiveness over his surrogate little sister and distrust over the man that threatened to take her away. What did she see in him, anyway? Rei didn't like the dark bags under the man's eyes, nor the smell of smoke on his breath, nor the absurd length of his wavy, raven hair which only rivaled that of Gin's. Most of all, that man worked for the Organization, and all Rei wanted for her was to find love with someone of a more normal background.

That said, if there was something he resented more than Akai Shuuichi, it was the Organization. Rei hadn't always felt that way, though. In fact, he grew up deeply believing in its ideals. His change of heart was something more recent-a psychological upheaval of sorts instigated by what was supposed to be an infiltration of the police force. Training at the police academy, hanging out with idealistic police-officers-to-be (especially one Date Wataru), Rei slowly began to have doubts about his mission and whatever the Organization stood for; he came to realize the world wasn't as black and white as he thought. But he pushed on, anyway, graduating the top of his class and becoming a police officer as was ordered. His internal moral and existential crisis continued on for several months, until he finally decided to bite the bullet and make the most revolutionary decision of his life: to quit being a regular police officer and join the Public Security Bureau-Japan's secret police-in order to betray and take down the Organization-yes, the Organization that very well brought him up.

The very fact that Akai Shuuichi worked for said organization automatically made him an enemy in Rei's eyes.

A smiling Akemi gestured her hand gestured toward Rei. "Dai-kun, this is my childhood friend, Fu-"

"Bourbon." Rei cut her off (because there was no way he was going to let that guy have the pleasure of knowing his real name), offered his hand toward his newfound enemy, smiled, and muttered an ever polite, "Nice to meet you, Moroboshi Dai-san." He may make his blood boil, but Rei was a still a gentleman, after all (albeit a two-faced one at that). After an exchange of false pleasantries, he made up some excuse to leave. He couldn't stand breathing the same air as him.

The hatred only escalated when Rei found out how quickly Akai, now known as Rye, was moving up the ranks, becoming the darling of many agents within the Organization. Furuya Rei was the top student of the National Police Academy, dammit! He had always been number one in anything he did, so to know someone who can actually rival his skills was quite distressing. It was especially frustrating how he can be outclassed by some rookie, when he'd been training for this job all his life. Something wasn't right, Rei decided. Akai was way too good to be some criminal just off the streets; he was definitely going to have to investigate this.

And he was right! That man was not just a mere criminal, he was an FBI agent! While his fellow mole from the PSB, a man who went by the codename of Scotch, was thrilled at the prospect of having a potential ally, this infuriated Rei even more. For him, this was strictly the business of the PSB and maybe even other domestic agencies such as the PSIA, but this was definitely, absolutely not the business of the FBI! And no, Rei didn't give a damn about the fact that the Organization had ties to America. The Organization's based right here in his Japan, his field, his territory, and there was no way in hell he was gonna sit back and let some arrogant foreign agency take the credit for what was supposed to be his job! (His senior would frequently remind him that the PSB's supposed to maintain "zero" presence, anyway, but it always fell on deaf ears.)

His insistence on personally taking down the Organization wasn't just out of duty and patriotism; he had a three-fold, personal stake at this as well. First, he loved the irony of him, a kid who grew up brainwashed with the Organization's ideals, taking down and destroying the very same organization he was supposed to pay allegiance to. Second was vengeance. He was going exact his revenge on the organization that killed both his parents and deprived him of a normal life. And last, but not the least, was for redemption. For him, destroying the Organization was the only way he could absolve himself from the terrible things he had done, and for the terrible things he would have to do in the future. This mission of his had practically become his raison d'être, and there was no way he would let that FBI snoopdog take that away from him!

There was no way in hell they were ever going to be allies. Even if they did have the same enemy.

For the first time since he was a little kid, Rei had never felt so helpless as he watched Akai execute Scotch without even as much as a hint of hesitation. It was a headshot; there was no way his friend could have survived it. Rei's expertise on first aid was all for naught as he watched Scotch die right before his very eyes. It may have been child's play for that bastard, but for Rei, it was yet another addition to the long line of persons that have been taken away from him-his parents, Elena-sensei, the list goes on and on.

Rei quietly breathed in and out as he mustered all the self-restraint he had to not grab his gun and blow that bastard's brains out. Fighting off the tears threatening to spill, his eyes constantly shifted from gazing at his friend's lifeless body and the man who took the life away from it.

It disgusted Rei how Akai kept a straight face the entire time. Was that how the FBI did things? Toying with people's hearts in order to infiltrate? Ratting out and killing fellow spies that aren't from the same agency to save their own skin? In other words, using other people as tools in order to achieve their goals?

Prepare to die, Akai Shuuichi. I'm going to make you wish you were never born. . . .


End file.
